Bathing
by evieeden
Summary: Leah tries to have a relaxing evening. Advent story written for 23rd December.


**Happy 23****rd**** December everyone. I hope you like today's advent story. It started with an idea and then ended up somewhere completely different that didn't make sense to me. Still, I very much hope you all enjoy reading it.**

**Once again, thanks to the wonders of my awful internet connection, the betaing of this fic was done by me, so please excuse any mistakes. And as always, I do not own Twilight.**

**Bathing**

"Honey, I'm home!" the familiar voice called out as the front door opened.

"In here," Leah yelled back.

Sighing deeply, she sunk back down into her bubble bath. It was the one luxury she hadn't deprived herself of when she became a wolf, and she enjoyed the feeling of slipping into the hot water and having every muscle gradually relax as the steam rose up around her.

The bathroom door creaked open and through half-closed eyes she saw Jake slip into the room.

"Hey." He offered her an easy grin.

Padding across to her, he collapsed down by the side of the bath and stroked his fingers against her arm resting on the side of the tub.

"You're back late," she commented drowsily. "Is Bella okay?"

He leaned his head against her hand.

"She's good," he replied. "Still hasn't popped yet, the doctors said it would be a few hours more, but Sam and I managed to calm Paul down enough that he could go back in the hospital to be with her.

Leah rolled her eyes. "He's such an idiot. I mean, who starts a fight in a maternity ward? Honestly."

"Yeah, Bells wasn't too impressed by that either."

Leah laughed and pushed herself so she was sitting upright. "Did she tear him a new one? Jake? Jake!"

His attention had been caught by the sight of her now bared breasts.

"Jake!" She smacked him around the head and he jolted out of his thoughts.

"Wha-?"

Leah reclined again until she was fully covered by the water once more, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly.

"Bella?" she prompted him.

"Oh, yeah. Well, she was mad, but then she was happy again once he was back in the room with her. I think she understood just how crazy his wolf was going. He was just trying to protect his mate, you know?"

"Against the doctor?" She was as disbelieving now as she had been earlier when Jake had received a frantic phone call from Sam.

Jake shrugged. "You know as well as I do that the wolf only sees another male standing uncomfortably close to his mate; we can't distinguish between professions when we're like that."

Leah made a small noise of agreement and closed her eyes, relaxing once more. She could hear Jake shifting around next to her, and when she opened her eyes again it was to find that he had rid himself of his shirt.

"Urgh, about time I got rid of that. Damn hospitals and their clothing rules."

Leah smiled. "It's just a shirt, Jake."

"Just a shirt," he muttered. "It felt like a vice."

"Don't be such a baby." She closed her eyes again.

"Don't be such a baby?" he complained. "When was the last time you wore more than a summer dress?"

"Ah, but I'm cleverer than you. I deliberately choose to wear something that I can look respectable wearing in public as well as something that's easy to strip off when I need to phase."

"Yeah, well, I'm a guy. It's a little harder for us. I don't have anything I can wear that's just one thing that wouldn't leave one half of me bare." She could hear his grin in his voice. "I suppose I could always borrow one of your dresses for when I want to look presentable."

She didn't even open her eyes to splash, but knew she had hit her target when he cursed under his breath.

"Okay, that's it. You wanna get me wet? I'm coming in with you."

"What?!" This time she did look at him.

He waggled his eyebrows and leered at her as he stood up and began unbuttoning his cut-offs.

"Jake!" she shrieked.

Finally stripped naked, he practically fell over the edge of the tub on top of her, sending water cascading over the edge of the bathtub and over the floor.

Leah squawked and then descended into giggles as the now drenched Jacob tried to find a way to fit his huge body into the average-sized bath.

Sliding up to press a hot kiss against her mouth, he then flipped over, sending another wave of water crashing onto the floor. With his back now pressed against her chest, he rested his head back against her shoulder and she wrapped her arms as far around him as she could from behind. Her hand came up to brush his wet hair away from his forehead.

A low rumbling sound began to emit from his chest and although he couldn't see her, Leah still buried her smile in his neck. She loved it when he let go of everything enough to truly unwind, and she'd never admit it to anyone else, but she loved it when Jake began to purr inadvertently. She would never point it out to him that he did it either, because the one time she had, he had stopped it abruptly.

"Hmm, this is nice," he murmured.

"What? You hijacking my bath?" she joked.

He smirked. "It's my bath too; technically I'm entitled to half of it."

"That's what you think," she retorted smartly.

He crooked his neck and gazed up at her. "You wouldn't throw me out, would you?"

"I might." She kissed his temple fondly. "I'll let you stay if you're good though."

He laughed deeply. "I'm always good," he stated confidently.

Leah smacked him gently on the shoulder. "I don't think that's really for you to decide. I reckon I get some say in that."

He kissed the underside of her chin and then slumped down in the water.

She continued running her hand through his hair, the other hand coming up to idly trail across his collarbone.

"I'm glad Bella's okay," he eventually said.

Leah kept quiet. The best thing she could do was listen as Jake got what was bothering him off his head.

"When Sam first called and said that Paul had freaked out at the hospital, I thought it was because something had gone wrong, you know, with the baby. But they said she's doing good, so I'm glad nothing's wrong."

Leah kissed his head and hugged him tightly.

"She's your best friend," she said carefully. "Of course you were worried about her. But she's going to be okay and so is the baby. Even Paul will survive, although he'll probably be ramped up for the next few weeks."

"I know," he replied. "But it's different from knowing she'll be okay, and actually seeing it. I mean...she was so small in that hospital bed. You forget that she's in there for a good thing and not a bad thing."

Leah chewed on the side of her mouth. She hadn't thought about that. Jake had been through so much in his life already, it made sense that hospitals wouldn't have the best memories for him. But he went there because his friends were there and needed his help, and, in a few hours time, once Bella had finally had her baby, he would go back again, with the pack, to welcome that child into the world, regardless of his personal feelings.

She could only hope that one day the good memories would outweigh the bad.

"Bella's tough," she tried to reassure him. "She wouldn't be Paul's mate if she wasn't."

Jake hummed in agreement. "I know she is. I just..."

"Worry," Leah filled in for him. "You wouldn't be her best friend if you didn't worry about her, Jake."

He nodded and then pressed his lips to her jaw.

"Shall we get out?" he asked. "The water's getting cold."

"Only 'cos you dumped all the hot water over the side when you belly-flopped in." She tried to lighten the mood.

Luckily, it seemed to work as Jacob laughed and reached back to poke her in the side.

"Belly-flop? I'll have you know that was a perfectly executed dive."

With a groan of protest, he heaved himself out of the water and onto the waterlogged bath mat. Holding out a hand, he pulled Leah out after him, taking care to lift her clear over the side of the bath so she wouldn't bang her legs.

With their heightened temperatures, they dried off pretty quickly and then quickly cleaned up the mess they had made on the floor.

Leah was just throwing the last of their damp clothes in the laundry basket when she was scooped up into Jake's arms. Squealing, she batted at his chest.

"What are you doing?"

He smirked. "You looked like you were tired, and I wouldn't leave an exhausted girl like you to have to walk all the way to bed by herself." He gave her his cheesiest wink.

Leah rolled her eyes at him, but she did have to admit that she quite enjoyed being carried around like she weighed less than a feather. Her body had changed so much when she had first phased – she had grown four inches in height, making her taller than she already was, and her curvy body had grown leaner and more muscular – that she often felt self-conscious, especially around the other, smaller girls on the reservation. To have a partner like Jake who could pick her up and toss her around easily was somewhat of a confidence booster.

Jacob carried her through to their bedroom and then collapsed onto the bed with Leah still in his arms.

"Oomph. Your elbow's digging into my stomach," he complained.

"Want me to dig it into somewhere else?" she threatened.

"Okay." Jake practically threw her off of him in case she felt compelled to carry out her threat.

Leah stretched out across the bed and then wriggled to get comfortable. When she finally turned back to Jacob it was to find him watching her thoughtfully. Reaching out, he tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"What?" she asked him. "What is it?"

Jake propped his head up on one hand. "Nothing, just..." He paused.

"Just?" she prompted.

"Seeing Bella today made me think," he began. "Would you...? I mean, do you think that you'd ever want one?"

Leah blinked. "A baby?" she asked incredulously.

His eyes wandered across the room. "Well, yeah."

She was completely stunned.

"But... You know I haven't had a period since I phased, Jake." She began to get upset even thinking about it. "I don't even know if I'm capable of having children. Why are we talking about this?"

Growing uncomfortable, she grabbed the sheet they usually abandoned at the foot of the bed and pulled it up around her body.

"I know you are," he stated confidently.

"That's bullshit!" she spat.

Jake frowned and dragged her towards him, enfolding her in his arms. Against her better judgment, she immediately relaxed. Being with him, it seemed, could calm her down no matter what. She buried her face in his chest and breathed in deep lungfuls of his scent.

"No, it's not," he told her softly, rubbing his hand soothingly up and down her back. "I know you were scared about it, we all saw, but when we got together, when we became mates, my wolf knew, instantly. I would've been with you no matter what – I love you, Leah – but once we got to know each other..." He coughed awkwardly. "...intimately. Then I just...knew."

"You did?" This was news to her.

"Well, yeah. I mean, I thought you did too. You never said anything, but I thought that because my wolf had seen it, then your wolf must have too."

Leah thought about it carefully as she tried to control the emotions welling up inside of her. She and her wolf didn't really commune that much. She was the animal when she had to be and the human the rest of the time.

Now, as she searched within herself, she found the answer she was looking for.

"Yes," she stated with a growing sense of amazement.

"Yes?" Jake asked cautiously.

"Yes!" she repeated more vehemently. "Yes, Jake, yes! It's there. Oh my God."

Pulling herself upwards she attacked his mouth with her own, kissing him ferociously. He met her embrace with equal gusto and only pulled back when they both needed to breathe.

"Yes?" he checked.

"Yes," she said again.

They grinned at each other like idiots.

Jake's hand, which had been wrapped around her hair, slid down her body to come to rest over her belly.

He was about to lean in to kiss her again when the phone suddenly rang. They both paused, midway towards each other.

Jake sighed. "We should probably get that."

Leah mimicked his sigh and then giggled. She felt surprisingly ecstatic and lightheaded. "We should. It's probably Paul or Sam again."

"Reckon the baby's finally made an appearance?" Jake asked.

Leah shrugged and then rolled away from him off the bed and stood up. "I can't imagine them calling again for anything else." She snorted. "Unless Paul's kicked off again."

Nodding, Jacob stood up too and copied her in quickly throwing on clothing. Restraining a groan of disgust, he dragged another shirt on over his head.

"Right. Let's go," he said when he was done.

They hurried out to the living room. Jake was just about to pick up the still-ringing phone, when Leah stopped him.

"Jake."

He turned to look at where she was stood uncertainly in the doorway.

"Yes?"

"I meant it you know," she told him. "When I said yes." She ducked her head, a sudden wave of shyness coasting over her. "To your question before," she clarified.

A wide, beaming smile overtook his face. Crossing the room in three long strides, he cupped her face and captured her lips once more for a brief, hard kiss, before scurrying back over to the ringing phone and picking it up.

Leah's hand rose to touch her swollen lips and her own small smile began creep across her face.

She had said yes.

And, watching Jake as he spoke animatedly on the phone, she realised that she meant it with all her heart.

Yes.


End file.
